you can keep my heart (call it a souvenir)
I got a lot of grief about the Manila decision but despite that, I went through with it because I knew it was something that would make me happy and that I would regret it for a long time if I didn’t do it. And y’know, life is short so why deny yourself of something that will give you joy?
Yes, it was expensive. Yes, I was (still am) tired from traveling so much. But it was so absolutely worth it. \o/ \o/ \o/
(Lots of babbling, a few pics and links to videos of Dave's set!)
epicflailer went to Manila earlier and I was in agony in Shanghai, receiving her texts on what was going on. I was at the airport, waiting for my flight back home, clutching my phone and wishing I was in Manila. Hahahah.
But somehow, I’m a lucky lucky bitch so thank you, Universe!
Nat had somehow convinced her fam to stay at the same hotel as the Davids, which was genius. And she said I could bunk in with her, which was AWESOME.
I arrived at the hotel at about 3ish. At this point, I want to say that my aunt is so awesome. She drove me around the entire time I was there. She drove me and Nat to the Mall of Asia and then waited to pick us up after the concert. And then the next day, we spent shopping and she’s just great and I adore her. She was probably almost as exhausted as I was from all the driving but she never complained. <3333
Nat & I hung out in her room where she filled me in on what had been happening. We were gonna go hang out in the lobby cos I wanted to meet the Dave’s band aka the Band of Ultimate Hotness (BOUH). Neal! Andy! Kyle! Joey! And the hottest of them all, my bb. But we were too lazy and ended up going down at 5pm which was when we were meeting my aunt so she could drive us to the Mall.
But first! We had to collect the concert tickets and there was some confusion when she was asking the concierge. We finally got the correct directions and as we were debating if I should go with her, I caught sight of a group of guys in black striding down the lobby.
BOUH!1!!!!!1!
I think I went, “OH GOD, IT’S THE BAND OF ULTIMATE HOTNESS!” and was like, SHIT SHIT SHITTTT WHAT DO I DO??!? Nat was prodding me to do something. And I was like, NO I CAN’T. MY BRAIN IS DEAD.
I remember seeing the Hotness that is Neal. Blonde hair, tattoes, all in the black, looking like a fuckin’ rock star. Brain short-circuited. And then I saw Andy. And Kyle. Joey was there too but I didn’t register anything else at that point, cos they were all so fuckin’ rock star that I was all !!!!!!!.
And then Neal walked by and I went “Hi Neal!”, and he turned to me and said hi back and I was just like, OH GOD NEAL. Srsly, I’m not really into the whole bad-boy thing but JESUS CHRIST THAT MAN IS SMOKIN’. (Nat doesn’t get the Neal-love, wahahahah! It’s okay bb.) He headed outside to smoke while the others lounged in the lobby (sitting at the table opposite my aunt, coincidentally).
I was still frozen and all ZOMG BOUH!!11! Nat was still prodding me to go outside and talk to Neal. “I don’t know what to say to him!!!” Hahahah! And then we debated some more over whether I should stay and try to talk to BOUH or follow Nat to pick up tickets.
In a chickenshit move, I decided to go with Nat. I really felt chickenshit about going up to them. Yes, me. I was too overwhelmed, I think. Of course, in the middle of all this, I was like, fuck what if Dave comes? (No, he didn’t. And if he did, I don’t wanna know cos I will kill myself. Haha.)
Anyways, we went to pick up tickets and, of course, Murphy’s Law was in effect cos we missed the lady by 5 minutes and had to wait about 20min for her to get back from her break. /o\
This was the first time, I think, that we really used my magic 8-ball application on Cookie!pod. We asked if the lady would be back before 5.55pm and sure enough, she came back at 5.54. Hahaha!
Anyway we finally got our tickets and hightailed it back to the hotel to meet my aunt and go to the Mall. After some harrowing times trying to avoid traffic, we arrived at the venue just about on-time. Found a merch stall and bought us some wrist bands cos the t-shirts were fug.
Our seats? Way more fantastic than I expected! We were smack in the center, 3rd row after the Titanium section, about 20 rows from the front. \o/ SCOOOORE!
OUR GLEEFACE!
Show started about 8.20pm. That set-up was pretty sweet. On stage: 1 big screen and 3 small screens on each side. A big screen on both sides of the stage and more screen further back for the people in nosebleed sections.
Archie came running from the back of the stage and opened with Touch My Hand, which made me giggle cos that song is full of CHEESE. He was wearing plaid (influenced by Dave?) and looking adorable.
His vocals were initially a bit rough but he eased into it. I realized that a) I know most of his songs; and b) I like more of them than I thought. Hahahaa! I squealed at My Hands, which is one of my faves. Crappy, nonsensical lyrics but I love the rhythm. And he ended with a killer acapella section which sounded awesome.
Archie on his keys.
I also liked You Can and To Be With You; he played keys on both and his voice sounded amazing on those songs. Fine, I confess that I was like inwardly melting during You Can. He also did A Thousand Miles, which I thought he did better in Singapore (more emotion). I’m convinced that had he done that on AI, he could’ve won over more fans. Angels was done on keys on as well, but to me, that song belongs only to one Robbie Williams so I sat down in protest. Haha! I will say that it sounds better live than on the album.
The non-album songs he did, Waiting for Yesterday & Zero Gravity, are better than some of the tripe on his album. Which is a bummer for him.
His between-songs banter was non-existent. Hahahahaha! I laughed like a hyena every time he spoke. Poor bb. He’s better than he was before, but still awkward & halting. And he uses “haha” as punctuation! He is such an adorable puppy. So smiley and happy.
And his bopping! HAHAHAHAAA!!! ZOMG. Hilarious! And adorable! Nat & I were intermittently laughing at his bopping and/or awkwardness. <3333
He ended with (what else but?) Crush. But I was distracted the entire time because I was convinced that I spotted Cook in the wings watching. Hmmmm.
There was then a 20-minute intermission while the roadies changed the set. We were treated to a major fireworks display which was really great. It seemed to last forever, though I kept glancing at the stage to see if BOUH had snuck on while everyone was distracted. But, nope.
Fireworks!
(Warning: squee overload ahead!)
Finally, at about 9.45pm or so, everything was set-up… and Andy came onstage. Alone. And I was like HUHWTF? But it alllllll made sense like 5 seconds later when a dark figure with a guitar rose from below-stage.
DAVID FUCKING COOK, YOU GUYSSSSS.
Between that awesome entrance and hearing the opening strains of TWIK, I LOST MY SHIT.
*FLAILS LIKE A FLAILY THING*
I was shell-shocked and like shaking with happiness and I COULD NOT BELIEVE I WAS THERE AND THAT DAVID FUCKING COOK WAS RIGHT FUCKING IN FRONT OF ME. I was clutching Nat’s arm and trying not to die. GODDDD.
Him singing TWIK was beautiful. It was just him, his guitar and Andy on backup. Dark mood lighting. His beautiful voice with an extra rasp to it. I was so in love. So so damn fuckin’ in love.
Also, bb looked ridiculously amazingly gorgeous. He was wearing black jeans (his ass looked fantastic in those jeans, btw) and a black snug t-shirt. Every time I caught a glimpse of the tattoos on his biceps, I died a little inside. And his hair was pretty. And he was pretty and FUCK. I wanted to sex him up real bad.
Ahemmm, anyway.
He wasn't as banter-y as I expected. But then apparently he still wasn't feel well. Which also explains why his voice was a little extra growly/raspy/hoarse, but in a totally sexy way. Like I've said before, there’s a real grit and character in his voice when you hear him live; some does translate to mp3s but it’s so much more evident in real life.
Dave trying to speak Tagalog was both adorable and HILARIOUS AS FUCK. In the beginning he said "Mabuhay!" to loud screams. And then he mangled "Selamat po" by forgetting the "po" and tacking it on after he realised he forgot it. HAHAHAHA. I CRACKED UP SO BAD.
And whenever he laughed (usually at himself), HE LOOKED SO CUTE AND I WANTED TO SQUISH HIM. There is nothing like hearing Dave laugh.
But he was in full-on ROCK STAAAAAR mode. The swagger, everything. LOVED IT! He was a little prowly at times (HOTTTT!) and did like the come-hither gesture a few times (NNNGGGHHHH!) and it was like, TAKE ME NOW DAVID COOK!!1!!!1!
Also, he had his AC guitar with him. <33333 My fave guitar on him.
A quick rundown of what he sang and what I remember:
Declaration was awesome. Mr Sensitive was also awesome. Heroes: even more awesome (I think he got a lil emotional singing it; I could see it on his face. <333).
Kiss On The Neck = TEH SEX. God, he was so fuckin’ sexy singing that song, it was TMTH. Equally hot was Make Me. NNNGHHHHH. When he intro-ed that he’d be doing an MWK song, I was like “HELL YES, he’s gonna do Anodyne??!”. Alas, I was wrong. /o\
For the first time since AI, Dave did ABMB, BOUH-style. Very rock star. It’s different from his AI version and the studio version but still pretty cool. ABMB is like the national anthem in the Phils; the entire crowd was up and waving hands in the air during that song. Nice.
Dave hanging out at the front row during Straight Ahead. Lucky bitches!
Straight Ahead: not my fave AH song but he killed it. He went off-stage and down to the front row where he stopped. Hands reaching for him, cameras snapping; he grabbed a few cameras and took pics. Heh. SO ROCK STAR, my bb!
Life On The Moon had freaky green lighting. It hit me that they were maybe going for a Martian vibe? Hahaha. Little Lies made me sing along. Avalanche is not my fave but twas nice and made me swoony.
Freaky-cool green Martian-vibe lighting. Hahahah!
Come Back To Me? Even more swoony. I was melting into goo. It was prefaced by some banter which was HILARIOUS. A girl was holding a “Marry me, Neal” sign which Dave pointed out to Neal. Neal came up to the front to see the sign and said, in his dry way, “Okay.” HAHAHAHA! And then Dave dedicated the song to the newly-weds. HAHAHAHAHA!!!
Light On was the first of 3 songs in the encore. I sat down in protest for like 2 seconds cos I’m not a fan of the song. But I stood back up cos he is my bb afterall and I have to feast my eyes on the pretty. Better live than on the album.
Bar-ba-sol was hot sweaty monkey sex. Ohhhh yeaaaah. He sounded AMAZING on it, with that extra grit in his voice. And the guitar break with him and Neal on opposite sides of the stage, rocking their guitars. FUCKING ORGASMIC OMG. I didn’t know where to look (okay, fine, I looked at Dave like a hungry wolf).
NEAAAAAL! (And erm, Dave's hot ass. :P)
His last song floored me. While he was talking, the band kinda starting playing and I recognized the melody, turned to Nat and said “Is he gonna do A Daily AntheM? OMG! NO!” and then he dedicated it to Adam and I was just in shock. Cos he hadn’t sung it (and Permanent) for about 2 months and after Adam’s passing, I didn’t expect him to sing it. Made me sad cos I love the song but it’s understandable why he wouldn’t sing it. So I was surprised and sort of like “Oh God, bb, are you sure you wanna do this?”.
I whipped out my camera because I wanted a video of it for my own memories. By the time he started singing the first verse, I was already fuckin’ crying. I couldn’t believe he was going to sing it and it just felt really special. And I could hear and feel emotion coming from him and I couldn’t take it. I was trying not to completely lose it and keep myself together but GOD. The way he sang it, esp the chorus.
And then, near the end at the “Ohh ohhh ohhh” parts, he invited Archie back on stage and they were singing together and Nat lost her shit at the Cookletaness. The crowd was singing along and waving their arms in the air and it was a beautiful beautiful moment. Then Dave put his hand on his heart, like he was so overwhelmed by it all… and then he really was overwhelmed and squatted down and did hands-clasped-covering-his-face thing that he does when he’s trying not to cry and then he blew a kiss to the heavens. And I was a goner. I was fuckin’ bawling like a baby (fuck fuck, even just typing this and remembering it is making me teary). My heart broke for him and I felt so lucky to have been a part of the moment.
Then he and Archie took a bow and they hugged and they walked off-stage with Dave’s arm around Archie’s shoulder.
And I (and Nat) were left ruined in pieces. We sat there for like 20 minutes… just stunned by it and shaken by the utter Epicness of the night and especially the last song.
We had trouble locating Nat’s sis (who had gone shopping at the Mall) and my aunt (who, like I said, was waiting for me) and there was massive traffic jam but we got back to the hotel at about 12ish. Said bye bye to my aunt, made plans for her to pick me up the next day and then we went up to the room to chillax and for Nat to squee on the interwebz.
Meanwhile, I was being creepy by staring at the rooms at the other wing and wondering if the guys were back yet.
And then the scary accuracy of my magic 8-ball came into play.
We were ambivalent about hanging out in the lobby. Nat doesn’t care about the BOUH and since the Davids hadn’t stopped for fans at all at any time, it was unlikely that we would meet them anyway. But I was still keen on trying to meet BOUH, especially after my chickenshit moment in the afternoon. So we consulted my magic 8-ball and asked very specific questions. I don’t remember the actual questions but we got positive responses and were like, heck it let’s go down for a while.
So, at about 2am, we made our way to the lobby of the other wing. Nat knew a group of the Cookleta peeps & we sat with them. By this time, I was half-dead already (running on major sleep deficit) and amused myself by tweeting. After about 10-15 minutes, Nat & I were saying that we have no patience to sit around and we consulted the 8-ball again and asked stuff like “Will Dave/BOUH come back in the next hour?” etc etc. Positive answers again. Nat was warning me not to say something stupid and we asked for a prediction from the 8-ball and got a hilarious answer like “Ask again later” or something like that, which made us howl with laughter.
And then, while lounging on the couch, I spotted some movement out of the corner of my eye. Turned to look and though, ‘Hmmm, that guy looks familiar.’. Tall, wearing a blue cap, white tee & grey vest… why, yes, my brain was hibernating because it took me like 3 seconds to register that it was DAVID FUCKING COOK, MY FUTURE HUSBAND, WHO WAS WALKING TOWARDS US. He looked niiiiiice.
Shocccck. Brain & body froze. He didn’t stop, just called out a “Hi guys!” (God, I love his speaking voice) and went on to the elevators. If I had blinked, I would’ve missed him. But it was good to catch a glimpse of him, fleeting as it was.
Like 30 seconds later, we heard some noise and then Archie turned the corner, smiling and saying hi and navigating through the group of fans who had stood up to welcome him. I didn’t realize he was that tiny! Hahahah. Could barely see him.
Then members of Archie's band started trickling in and we asked the 8-ball if BOUH would be coming within 15 minutes. Positive answer again. Nat told me to get my ass off the couch in preparation; by this time, we were convinced of the magical accuracy of the 8-ball. LOL. Then I started freaking and was like, OH GOD I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY TO BOUH.
2 minutes after we got up and stood closer to the hallway, Neal (!!!) came. He was stopped by some people so it gave me some time to get over my freak-out and to redeem myself from my chickenshit moment that afternoon.
I was like Aaaah NEAAAAL!!! on the inside when he started walking again. Sucked it up, said hi and told him the show was awesome, and asked for a pic. He was like, sure!, and I was like !!!!! (on the inside… though I bet it showed on my gleeface). God, he is so hot. I don’t even know whyyyy but I am majorly attracted to him. I so wanted to make conversation but my brain was totally fried (from his proximity and exhaustion and overstimulation, hahah). He would’ve stayed and talked to me had I said anything (he totally paused!) but my brain cells failed me. DAMNIT.
*smacks self*
(I look exhausted! And my hair was misbehaving after a long day. BAH.)
But y’know, I got over it quick cos then Kyle & Andy came down the hallway. And again !!!! SKIBBY! PEEKABOOO!!! Again, they got stopped and I calmed the fuck down. I was aiming for Skib but he got held up so I nabbed Kyle as he wandered down the hallway.
(Again, EXHAUSTED. But look at KYLE! PRECIOUSFAAACE!)
For the record, he is SO PRETTY. The hair, the eyes, the smile. I was, oh Kyle bb you so cute! Again, same routine. Hi, awesome show! He said thanks for coming and I was like, I couldn’t miss it, together than helpless hand-waving which sorta like made him smile. Got a pic with him and then told him that they have to come by Asia again and that we’d love to have them in SG (NO LIE, BB!). He seemed surprised, and said you’re from Singapore? Said yes, that I flew over just to see the show. Again, surprised and he asked how long the flight was. I said about 3hours and he said that’s not too bad, better than their flight. Hahahahha! <3333
I think at this point, Skibby had moved to another group so I was leaning against the wall to catch my breath from all the awesome. Some guy walked past me; I knew he was Someone but since his name was not David nor was he from BOUH, I didn’t pay any attention. Hello, priorities! According to Nat, he totally checked me out. Hahahha. Sorry dude, had I not been exhausted I might’ve been friendly. Turned out he was Archie’s guitarist, Alex.
Anyway, back to BOUH.
Skibby was still talking to someone, and I was patiently waiting to intercept. Joey had arrived and was accosted by some fans. I coulda snabbed a pic with him, I guess, but I was more interested in talking to Andy. (SORRY JOEY!) So the moment he was free, I was like, hi! just wanted to tell you that I love ‘Dream of My Own’ (TRUFAX!). He is so quiet/shy (Nat says terrified, hahahaha!) and I ended up babbling for like 5 minutes about how I first heard his music after he joined BOUH and how I love it and hope he continues doing his To Have Heroes stuff. And then before I could ask for a pic, he got herded off. Gaaah.
All this happened really quickly and it took barely an hour for all the action to occur. All thanks to the scary, magical accuracy of my 8-ball application on Cookie!pod.
The only way the night would’ve been better was if Dave had stopped. But apparently, he didn’t stop to mingle with fans AT ALL the entire trip. So it’s not that I even had a chance to begin with. And to be honest, the time I met him, he was so extremely awesomely perfect that it would be difficult for him to top that. I still have those memories of DC to live on. <33333
Next day, Nat and her fam left at 11am. Her youngest bro playing with my 8-ball was HILARIOUS. Heh. After they left, I waited for my aunt to pick me up. It was a hardcoooore day of shopping. We hit 3 malls and bought a crapload of stuff. I was exhausted! But I was happy with my buys, hehehe. After a short nap in the evening, we picked up two of my cousins and went to a local bar. Where the band played Dave’s version of ABMB! Heh, I was amused.
Next day, after a quick bite, we left my aunt’s house and went to pick up another one of my cousins so that I could meet her baby boy, Kenzo. SO ADORABLE. A stop at Jollibee for an early lunch before they dropped me off at the airport.
Exhaustion makes my emotions go all whack. I was like near crying when I said goodbye to my aunt and cousins, but held it together. And then later on the plane, I was somehow crying for no apparent reason! The guy beside me was probably weirded out. Hahaha.
Had some airport woes. Luggage was too heavy so I had to redistribute some of the stuff and handcarry an extra bag instead of paying for excess. And then the 100 peso note I used to pay for airport tax was apparently no longer in use and not acceptable. I had no more cash and I was beyond irritated. Luckily, a nice guy at the money changer saved me when he gave me a new 100 peso note. Thanks dude, sending good karma vibes your way!
It was a very rushed trip and I wish I had more time to spend there but, for what it was, I had a fantastic amazing time. Seeing Dave live was unbelievable and I am so happy and satisfied that I experienced it. :D :D :D I am so damn fuckin' in love with Dave. He has ruined me for life. <333333
Plus, meeting BOUH was a bonus. \o/
THAAAANK YOUUUUUU epicflailer! For getting the great concert seats, for letting me crash in your hotel room, for playing photographer when BOUH was around, for being generally SO AWESOME! ILU, BB! *HUGS*
P/S: For a different POV of the shennanigans, read Nat's recaps here and here! WOOOOO!
Yes, it was expensive. Yes, I was (still am) tired from traveling so much. But it was so absolutely worth it. \o/ \o/ \o/
(Lots of babbling, a few pics and links to videos of Dave's set!)
epicflailer went to Manila earlier and I was in agony in Shanghai, receiving her texts on what was going on. I was at the airport, waiting for my flight back home, clutching my phone and wishing I was in Manila. Hahahah.
But somehow, I’m a lucky lucky bitch so thank you, Universe!
Nat had somehow convinced her fam to stay at the same hotel as the Davids, which was genius. And she said I could bunk in with her, which was AWESOME.
I arrived at the hotel at about 3ish. At this point, I want to say that my aunt is so awesome. She drove me around the entire time I was there. She drove me and Nat to the Mall of Asia and then waited to pick us up after the concert. And then the next day, we spent shopping and she’s just great and I adore her. She was probably almost as exhausted as I was from all the driving but she never complained. <3333
Nat & I hung out in her room where she filled me in on what had been happening. We were gonna go hang out in the lobby cos I wanted to meet the Dave’s band aka the Band of Ultimate Hotness (BOUH). Neal! Andy! Kyle! Joey! And the hottest of them all, my bb. But we were too lazy and ended up going down at 5pm which was when we were meeting my aunt so she could drive us to the Mall.
But first! We had to collect the concert tickets and there was some confusion when she was asking the concierge. We finally got the correct directions and as we were debating if I should go with her, I caught sight of a group of guys in black striding down the lobby.
BOUH!1!!!!!1!
I think I went, “OH GOD, IT’S THE BAND OF ULTIMATE HOTNESS!” and was like, SHIT SHIT SHITTTT WHAT DO I DO??!? Nat was prodding me to do something. And I was like, NO I CAN’T. MY BRAIN IS DEAD.
I remember seeing the Hotness that is Neal. Blonde hair, tattoes, all in the black, looking like a fuckin’ rock star. Brain short-circuited. And then I saw Andy. And Kyle. Joey was there too but I didn’t register anything else at that point, cos they were all so fuckin’ rock star that I was all !!!!!!!.
And then Neal walked by and I went “Hi Neal!”, and he turned to me and said hi back and I was just like, OH GOD NEAL. Srsly, I’m not really into the whole bad-boy thing but JESUS CHRIST THAT MAN IS SMOKIN’. (Nat doesn’t get the Neal-love, wahahahah! It’s okay bb.) He headed outside to smoke while the others lounged in the lobby (sitting at the table opposite my aunt, coincidentally).
I was still frozen and all ZOMG BOUH!!11! Nat was still prodding me to go outside and talk to Neal. “I don’t know what to say to him!!!” Hahahah! And then we debated some more over whether I should stay and try to talk to BOUH or follow Nat to pick up tickets.
In a chickenshit move, I decided to go with Nat. I really felt chickenshit about going up to them. Yes, me. I was too overwhelmed, I think. Of course, in the middle of all this, I was like, fuck what if Dave comes? (No, he didn’t. And if he did, I don’t wanna know cos I will kill myself. Haha.)
Anyways, we went to pick up tickets and, of course, Murphy’s Law was in effect cos we missed the lady by 5 minutes and had to wait about 20min for her to get back from her break. /o\
This was the first time, I think, that we really used my magic 8-ball application on Cookie!pod. We asked if the lady would be back before 5.55pm and sure enough, she came back at 5.54. Hahaha!
Anyway we finally got our tickets and hightailed it back to the hotel to meet my aunt and go to the Mall. After some harrowing times trying to avoid traffic, we arrived at the venue just about on-time. Found a merch stall and bought us some wrist bands cos the t-shirts were fug.
Our seats? Way more fantastic than I expected! We were smack in the center, 3rd row after the Titanium section, about 20 rows from the front. \o/ SCOOOORE!
OUR GLEEFACE!
Show started about 8.20pm. That set-up was pretty sweet. On stage: 1 big screen and 3 small screens on each side. A big screen on both sides of the stage and more screen further back for the people in nosebleed sections.
Archie came running from the back of the stage and opened with Touch My Hand, which made me giggle cos that song is full of CHEESE. He was wearing plaid (influenced by Dave?) and looking adorable.
His vocals were initially a bit rough but he eased into it. I realized that a) I know most of his songs; and b) I like more of them than I thought. Hahahaa! I squealed at My Hands, which is one of my faves. Crappy, nonsensical lyrics but I love the rhythm. And he ended with a killer acapella section which sounded awesome.
Archie on his keys.
I also liked You Can and To Be With You; he played keys on both and his voice sounded amazing on those songs. Fine, I confess that I was like inwardly melting during You Can. He also did A Thousand Miles, which I thought he did better in Singapore (more emotion). I’m convinced that had he done that on AI, he could’ve won over more fans. Angels was done on keys on as well, but to me, that song belongs only to one Robbie Williams so I sat down in protest. Haha! I will say that it sounds better live than on the album.
The non-album songs he did, Waiting for Yesterday & Zero Gravity, are better than some of the tripe on his album. Which is a bummer for him.
His between-songs banter was non-existent. Hahahahaha! I laughed like a hyena every time he spoke. Poor bb. He’s better than he was before, but still awkward & halting. And he uses “haha” as punctuation! He is such an adorable puppy. So smiley and happy.
And his bopping! HAHAHAHAAA!!! ZOMG. Hilarious! And adorable! Nat & I were intermittently laughing at his bopping and/or awkwardness. <3333
He ended with (what else but?) Crush. But I was distracted the entire time because I was convinced that I spotted Cook in the wings watching. Hmmmm.
There was then a 20-minute intermission while the roadies changed the set. We were treated to a major fireworks display which was really great. It seemed to last forever, though I kept glancing at the stage to see if BOUH had snuck on while everyone was distracted. But, nope.
Fireworks!
(Warning: squee overload ahead!)
Finally, at about 9.45pm or so, everything was set-up… and Andy came onstage. Alone. And I was like HUHWTF? But it alllllll made sense like 5 seconds later when a dark figure with a guitar rose from below-stage.
DAVID FUCKING COOK, YOU GUYSSSSS.
Between that awesome entrance and hearing the opening strains of TWIK, I LOST MY SHIT.
*FLAILS LIKE A FLAILY THING*
I was shell-shocked and like shaking with happiness and I COULD NOT BELIEVE I WAS THERE AND THAT DAVID FUCKING COOK WAS RIGHT FUCKING IN FRONT OF ME. I was clutching Nat’s arm and trying not to die. GODDDD.
Him singing TWIK was beautiful. It was just him, his guitar and Andy on backup. Dark mood lighting. His beautiful voice with an extra rasp to it. I was so in love. So so damn fuckin’ in love.
Also, bb looked ridiculously amazingly gorgeous. He was wearing black jeans (his ass looked fantastic in those jeans, btw) and a black snug t-shirt. Every time I caught a glimpse of the tattoos on his biceps, I died a little inside. And his hair was pretty. And he was pretty and FUCK. I wanted to sex him up real bad.
Ahemmm, anyway.
He wasn't as banter-y as I expected. But then apparently he still wasn't feel well. Which also explains why his voice was a little extra growly/raspy/hoarse, but in a totally sexy way. Like I've said before, there’s a real grit and character in his voice when you hear him live; some does translate to mp3s but it’s so much more evident in real life.
Dave trying to speak Tagalog was both adorable and HILARIOUS AS FUCK. In the beginning he said "Mabuhay!" to loud screams. And then he mangled "Selamat po" by forgetting the "po" and tacking it on after he realised he forgot it. HAHAHAHA. I CRACKED UP SO BAD.
And whenever he laughed (usually at himself), HE LOOKED SO CUTE AND I WANTED TO SQUISH HIM. There is nothing like hearing Dave laugh.
But he was in full-on ROCK STAAAAAR mode. The swagger, everything. LOVED IT! He was a little prowly at times (HOTTTT!) and did like the come-hither gesture a few times (NNNGGGHHHH!) and it was like, TAKE ME NOW DAVID COOK!!1!!!1!
Also, he had his AC guitar with him. <33333 My fave guitar on him.
A quick rundown of what he sang and what I remember:
Declaration was awesome. Mr Sensitive was also awesome. Heroes: even more awesome (I think he got a lil emotional singing it; I could see it on his face. <333).
Kiss On The Neck = TEH SEX. God, he was so fuckin’ sexy singing that song, it was TMTH. Equally hot was Make Me. NNNGHHHHH. When he intro-ed that he’d be doing an MWK song, I was like “HELL YES, he’s gonna do Anodyne??!”. Alas, I was wrong. /o\
For the first time since AI, Dave did ABMB, BOUH-style. Very rock star. It’s different from his AI version and the studio version but still pretty cool. ABMB is like the national anthem in the Phils; the entire crowd was up and waving hands in the air during that song. Nice.
Dave hanging out at the front row during Straight Ahead. Lucky bitches!
Straight Ahead: not my fave AH song but he killed it. He went off-stage and down to the front row where he stopped. Hands reaching for him, cameras snapping; he grabbed a few cameras and took pics. Heh. SO ROCK STAR, my bb!
Life On The Moon had freaky green lighting. It hit me that they were maybe going for a Martian vibe? Hahaha. Little Lies made me sing along. Avalanche is not my fave but twas nice and made me swoony.
Freaky-cool green Martian-vibe lighting. Hahahah!
Come Back To Me? Even more swoony. I was melting into goo. It was prefaced by some banter which was HILARIOUS. A girl was holding a “Marry me, Neal” sign which Dave pointed out to Neal. Neal came up to the front to see the sign and said, in his dry way, “Okay.” HAHAHAHA! And then Dave dedicated the song to the newly-weds. HAHAHAHAHA!!!
Light On was the first of 3 songs in the encore. I sat down in protest for like 2 seconds cos I’m not a fan of the song. But I stood back up cos he is my bb afterall and I have to feast my eyes on the pretty. Better live than on the album.
Bar-ba-sol was hot sweaty monkey sex. Ohhhh yeaaaah. He sounded AMAZING on it, with that extra grit in his voice. And the guitar break with him and Neal on opposite sides of the stage, rocking their guitars. FUCKING ORGASMIC OMG. I didn’t know where to look (okay, fine, I looked at Dave like a hungry wolf).
NEAAAAAL! (And erm, Dave's hot ass. :P)
His last song floored me. While he was talking, the band kinda starting playing and I recognized the melody, turned to Nat and said “Is he gonna do A Daily AntheM? OMG! NO!” and then he dedicated it to Adam and I was just in shock. Cos he hadn’t sung it (and Permanent) for about 2 months and after Adam’s passing, I didn’t expect him to sing it. Made me sad cos I love the song but it’s understandable why he wouldn’t sing it. So I was surprised and sort of like “Oh God, bb, are you sure you wanna do this?”.
I whipped out my camera because I wanted a video of it for my own memories. By the time he started singing the first verse, I was already fuckin’ crying. I couldn’t believe he was going to sing it and it just felt really special. And I could hear and feel emotion coming from him and I couldn’t take it. I was trying not to completely lose it and keep myself together but GOD. The way he sang it, esp the chorus.
And then, near the end at the “Ohh ohhh ohhh” parts, he invited Archie back on stage and they were singing together and Nat lost her shit at the Cookletaness. The crowd was singing along and waving their arms in the air and it was a beautiful beautiful moment. Then Dave put his hand on his heart, like he was so overwhelmed by it all… and then he really was overwhelmed and squatted down and did hands-clasped-covering-his-face thing that he does when he’s trying not to cry and then he blew a kiss to the heavens. And I was a goner. I was fuckin’ bawling like a baby (fuck fuck, even just typing this and remembering it is making me teary). My heart broke for him and I felt so lucky to have been a part of the moment.
Then he and Archie took a bow and they hugged and they walked off-stage with Dave’s arm around Archie’s shoulder.
And I (and Nat) were left ruined in pieces. We sat there for like 20 minutes… just stunned by it and shaken by the utter Epicness of the night and especially the last song.
We had trouble locating Nat’s sis (who had gone shopping at the Mall) and my aunt (who, like I said, was waiting for me) and there was massive traffic jam but we got back to the hotel at about 12ish. Said bye bye to my aunt, made plans for her to pick me up the next day and then we went up to the room to chillax and for Nat to squee on the interwebz.
Meanwhile, I was being creepy by staring at the rooms at the other wing and wondering if the guys were back yet.
And then the scary accuracy of my magic 8-ball came into play.
We were ambivalent about hanging out in the lobby. Nat doesn’t care about the BOUH and since the Davids hadn’t stopped for fans at all at any time, it was unlikely that we would meet them anyway. But I was still keen on trying to meet BOUH, especially after my chickenshit moment in the afternoon. So we consulted my magic 8-ball and asked very specific questions. I don’t remember the actual questions but we got positive responses and were like, heck it let’s go down for a while.
So, at about 2am, we made our way to the lobby of the other wing. Nat knew a group of the Cookleta peeps & we sat with them. By this time, I was half-dead already (running on major sleep deficit) and amused myself by tweeting. After about 10-15 minutes, Nat & I were saying that we have no patience to sit around and we consulted the 8-ball again and asked stuff like “Will Dave/BOUH come back in the next hour?” etc etc. Positive answers again. Nat was warning me not to say something stupid and we asked for a prediction from the 8-ball and got a hilarious answer like “Ask again later” or something like that, which made us howl with laughter.
And then, while lounging on the couch, I spotted some movement out of the corner of my eye. Turned to look and though, ‘Hmmm, that guy looks familiar.’. Tall, wearing a blue cap, white tee & grey vest… why, yes, my brain was hibernating because it took me like 3 seconds to register that it was DAVID FUCKING COOK, MY FUTURE HUSBAND, WHO WAS WALKING TOWARDS US. He looked niiiiiice.
Shocccck. Brain & body froze. He didn’t stop, just called out a “Hi guys!” (God, I love his speaking voice) and went on to the elevators. If I had blinked, I would’ve missed him. But it was good to catch a glimpse of him, fleeting as it was.
Like 30 seconds later, we heard some noise and then Archie turned the corner, smiling and saying hi and navigating through the group of fans who had stood up to welcome him. I didn’t realize he was that tiny! Hahahah. Could barely see him.
Then members of Archie's band started trickling in and we asked the 8-ball if BOUH would be coming within 15 minutes. Positive answer again. Nat told me to get my ass off the couch in preparation; by this time, we were convinced of the magical accuracy of the 8-ball. LOL. Then I started freaking and was like, OH GOD I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY TO BOUH.
2 minutes after we got up and stood closer to the hallway, Neal (!!!) came. He was stopped by some people so it gave me some time to get over my freak-out and to redeem myself from my chickenshit moment that afternoon.
I was like Aaaah NEAAAAL!!! on the inside when he started walking again. Sucked it up, said hi and told him the show was awesome, and asked for a pic. He was like, sure!, and I was like !!!!! (on the inside… though I bet it showed on my gleeface). God, he is so hot. I don’t even know whyyyy but I am majorly attracted to him. I so wanted to make conversation but my brain was totally fried (from his proximity and exhaustion and overstimulation, hahah). He would’ve stayed and talked to me had I said anything (he totally paused!) but my brain cells failed me. DAMNIT.
*smacks self*
(I look exhausted! And my hair was misbehaving after a long day. BAH.)
But y’know, I got over it quick cos then Kyle & Andy came down the hallway. And again !!!! SKIBBY! PEEKABOOO!!! Again, they got stopped and I calmed the fuck down. I was aiming for Skib but he got held up so I nabbed Kyle as he wandered down the hallway.
(Again, EXHAUSTED. But look at KYLE! PRECIOUSFAAACE!)
For the record, he is SO PRETTY. The hair, the eyes, the smile. I was, oh Kyle bb you so cute! Again, same routine. Hi, awesome show! He said thanks for coming and I was like, I couldn’t miss it, together than helpless hand-waving which sorta like made him smile. Got a pic with him and then told him that they have to come by Asia again and that we’d love to have them in SG (NO LIE, BB!). He seemed surprised, and said you’re from Singapore? Said yes, that I flew over just to see the show. Again, surprised and he asked how long the flight was. I said about 3hours and he said that’s not too bad, better than their flight. Hahahahha! <3333
I think at this point, Skibby had moved to another group so I was leaning against the wall to catch my breath from all the awesome. Some guy walked past me; I knew he was Someone but since his name was not David nor was he from BOUH, I didn’t pay any attention. Hello, priorities! According to Nat, he totally checked me out. Hahahha. Sorry dude, had I not been exhausted I might’ve been friendly. Turned out he was Archie’s guitarist, Alex.
Anyway, back to BOUH.
Skibby was still talking to someone, and I was patiently waiting to intercept. Joey had arrived and was accosted by some fans. I coulda snabbed a pic with him, I guess, but I was more interested in talking to Andy. (SORRY JOEY!) So the moment he was free, I was like, hi! just wanted to tell you that I love ‘Dream of My Own’ (TRUFAX!). He is so quiet/shy (Nat says terrified, hahahaha!) and I ended up babbling for like 5 minutes about how I first heard his music after he joined BOUH and how I love it and hope he continues doing his To Have Heroes stuff. And then before I could ask for a pic, he got herded off. Gaaah.
All this happened really quickly and it took barely an hour for all the action to occur. All thanks to the scary, magical accuracy of my 8-ball application on Cookie!pod.
The only way the night would’ve been better was if Dave had stopped. But apparently, he didn’t stop to mingle with fans AT ALL the entire trip. So it’s not that I even had a chance to begin with. And to be honest, the time I met him, he was so extremely awesomely perfect that it would be difficult for him to top that. I still have those memories of DC to live on. <33333
Next day, Nat and her fam left at 11am. Her youngest bro playing with my 8-ball was HILARIOUS. Heh. After they left, I waited for my aunt to pick me up. It was a hardcoooore day of shopping. We hit 3 malls and bought a crapload of stuff. I was exhausted! But I was happy with my buys, hehehe. After a short nap in the evening, we picked up two of my cousins and went to a local bar. Where the band played Dave’s version of ABMB! Heh, I was amused.
Next day, after a quick bite, we left my aunt’s house and went to pick up another one of my cousins so that I could meet her baby boy, Kenzo. SO ADORABLE. A stop at Jollibee for an early lunch before they dropped me off at the airport.
Exhaustion makes my emotions go all whack. I was like near crying when I said goodbye to my aunt and cousins, but held it together. And then later on the plane, I was somehow crying for no apparent reason! The guy beside me was probably weirded out. Hahaha.
Had some airport woes. Luggage was too heavy so I had to redistribute some of the stuff and handcarry an extra bag instead of paying for excess. And then the 100 peso note I used to pay for airport tax was apparently no longer in use and not acceptable. I had no more cash and I was beyond irritated. Luckily, a nice guy at the money changer saved me when he gave me a new 100 peso note. Thanks dude, sending good karma vibes your way!
It was a very rushed trip and I wish I had more time to spend there but, for what it was, I had a fantastic amazing time. Seeing Dave live was unbelievable and I am so happy and satisfied that I experienced it. :D :D :D I am so damn fuckin' in love with Dave. He has ruined me for life. <333333
Plus, meeting BOUH was a bonus. \o/
THAAAANK YOUUUUUU epicflailer! For getting the great concert seats, for letting me crash in your hotel room, for playing photographer when BOUH was around, for being generally SO AWESOME! ILU, BB! *HUGS*
P/S: For a different POV of the shennanigans, read Nat's recaps here and here! WOOOOO!